Full Title: John Kelly, Trump’s Homeland Security pick, gave a remarkable speech 4 days after his son died serving in Afghanistan On Veterans Day in 2010, inside an unremarkable hotel ballroom in St. Louis, Marine Gen. John F. Kelly, delivered what the Washington Post described as “a passionate and at times angry speech about the military’s sacrifices and its troops’ growing sense of isolation from society.” That he was able to speak at all was remarkable. Four days earlier, Kelly’s 29-year-old son, Marine 1st Lt. Robert Michael Kelly, stepped on a land mine while leading a patrol in southern Afghanistan....

Full Title: Everybody should read General John Kelly’s speech about two Marines in the path of a truck bomb Eight years ago, two Marines from two different walks of life who had literally just met were told to stand guard in front of their outpost’s entry-control point. Minutes later, they were staring down a big blue truck packed with explosives. With this particular shred of hell bearing down on them, they stood their ground. Heck, they even leaned in. I had heard the story many times, personally. But until today I had never heard Marine Lt. Gen. John Kelly’s telling...

The incoming Trump administration increases the chances that the decision on women in combat jobs will be reviewed and possibly changed. The Pentagon’s decision to integrate women into combat positions will be reviewed if requested by President-elect Donald Trump, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller said Wednesday. “If we’re asked what our best military advice is on that, we’ll make that known at that time,” Neller said Wednesday at a defense forum in Washington, D.C.

By the end of the campaign, they had fought together in places like Nasiriyah, Al Kut, and eventually Baghdad. The division they were in — along with the US Army and UK armored elements — carried out one of the most aggressive, high-speed attacks in history, and 1st Marine Division's ground march was the longest in the history of the Marine Corps, for which it earned the Presidential Unit Citation.

President-elect Donald Trump plans to nominate retired Marine General John Kelly to lead the Department of Homeland Security, CBS News reported on Wednesday. Kelly, the former head of the U.S. Southern Command, has accepted the offer, CBS said, citing unidentified sources. Reuters has not independently confirmed the choice. Kelly, 66, would be the third general Trump has tapped for a high-level position in his administration.

The Marine Corps is considering suppressing all small arms. Military organizations have historically been slow to adopt new technologies. They have been slow to adopt optical sights, which were overwhelmingly adopted by sportsmen long before they become common for ordinary soldiers. In the U.S. that was during the first Gulf War. Suppressors have been commonly used by sportsmen around the world for decades long before widespread adoption by any military. The United States is the exception, due to irrational regulation. The Marine Corp is in the process of equipping an entire battalion with suppressed small arms. From ameriforce.net: In...

Lt. Gen. James Mattis (USMC) is known as one of the most accomplished commanders in recent history and as one of the finest Marines to walk this planet. He also is a dedicated reader, and credits some of his success in the middle east to studying the works of those who had gone before him. This list is assembled from this list of required reading for CENTCOM USMC officers

TOPEKA, Kan. — A U.S. Navy destroyer warship has been named in honor of a Topeka three-star general who became the first black aviator, first black general and first black base commander in the Marine Corps. Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announced that the destroyer, which is under construction, would bear the name of Lt. Gen. Frank E. Petersen Jr., according to the Topeka Capital-Journal. Petersen enlisted in the Navy in 1950, and left in 1952 to accept a commission as a second lieutenant and become the first black pilot in the Marine Corps. He flew over 350 combat...

Just before Marine Gen. James 'Mad Dog' Mattis was getting ready to deploy with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force to Iraq in early 2004, one of his colleagues asked him about the importance of reading for military officers who sometimes found themselves "too busy to read." The legendary general sometimes referred to as "The Warrior Monk" carted around a personal library of 6,000 books with him everywhere, and he had plenty to say on the topic. His response went viral over email... Here's what he wrote, on Nov. 20, 2003: ... The problem with being too busy to read is...

Full title: 'Faith Warriors:' Video of Marines Delivering Powerful Rendition of Christian Worship Song 'Days of Elijah' Goes Viral A powerful video of nearly 500 U.S. Marines at the Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in California declaring "there is no God like Jehovah" in an inspirational rendition of the Christian worship song "Days of Elijah," is taking the Internet by storm. Merrie Pardee Baldwin, the Christian volunteer who first posted the video of the worshipful Marines to her Facebook page Sunday, told The Christian Post in an interview Friday that she is hoping the video inspires Americans to pray for...

I and others just got this email from our Pastor: Wednesday, November 16, 2016 07:11:43 AM Good Morning rainy, thank God, Maine As an honorably discharged Veteran of the United States Marine Corps I want to thank all of you who voted for Donald John Trump to be President of These United states of America. You, ladies and gentlemen, fellow patriots and lovers of the Republic have given, we Veterans, the greatest “Thank You For Your service” ever, you have given us a CIC that loves us and will not use us indiscriminately as cannon fodder to make the war...

This morning I attended the 8th Annual Veterans Day Breakfast hosted by the President of the University of South Carolina. It was a great event with probably 600 people in attendance. One of the speakers was the Dean of University Libraries who told us that the University is the recipient of 10,000 reels of film from Quantico chronicling the Marine Corps in the 20th Century. Snippets of film we saw included scenes from Boot Camp, WWII, Vietnam and many other clips. The University has the films safely archived but they want to do more than that! The vision is to...

Nov. 10, 1775, marks the beginning of the greatest fighting force the world has ever seen. To celebrate the Marine Corps' 241st Birthday, we looked at the top 10 things that make the Corps awesome. 1. “Be polite, be professional, but have a plan to kill everybody you meet.” — One of retired Gen. James Mattis' rules to live by.More at the source ...

Last week Norway agreed to allow 330 US Marines to be based at Værnes Russia is furious and Frants Klintsevich said Norway was now fair game Klintsevich's views are thought to be in line with those of President Putin's Norway has been warned by a senior Russian politician that it could now be a nuclear target after it allowed for the deployment of 330 US Marines. Frants Klintsevich, a deputy chairman of Russia's defence and security committee, said the deployment of US Marines at Værnes was part of a US build-up and made Norway fair game in the event of a nuclear confrontation.Mr Klintsevich...

As part of an overall force reduction due to federal budget constraints, the U.S. military has been forced to cut members. The Marines, Air Force, and Army have all been affected and have begun a significant Reduction in Force (RIF). Here’s what you need to know about what’s happening with the military regarding the reduction. The What Over the summer, the Pentagon released a plan detailing cuts to the military that were to begin in fiscal year 2016. The federal government’s fiscal year began on October 1st, so those cuts are currently underway. The Army was by far the hardest...

The Glock 19 is now the only and official sidearm for Marine special operators as officials ditched the classic .45-caliber Colt 1911, the Marine Corps Times reported last week. “We put our money behind the 9mm round fired by an extremely well-trained marksman carrying a Glock 19,” said Maj. Nick Mannweiler, a spokesman for Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command. He added the 9mm Glock is the only pistol Marine special operators are allowed to take into battle. Since last year, MARSOC has purchased and fielded 1,654 Glock 19s because Raiders needed a reliable secondary weapon “that could be...

The Marine Corps may replace its iconic slogan “The Few. The Proud. The Marines.” The service is putting together a new advertising campaign that could include a tagline to succeed the current one, which has been used on and off since 1976. Here’s the apparent problem with the longtime slogan: It doesn’t explain what the Marines actually do, which is fight. “(We) examined the existing tagline and felt that it did an excellent job describing who we are, but it didn’t go further and state what it is that we do,” said Lt. Col. John Caldwell, spokesman for the Marine...

We have just received information that a certain Marine Corps INFANTRY BATTALION currently stationed at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina has been placed in an ALERT STATUS. All leave has been cancelled for the unit, and all Marines have been ordered back to base immediately! Camp Lejeune Camp Lejeune is located only a few hours away, by HUMVEE, from Charlotte, North Carolina. We are unable to confirm if this is related to the Insurrection in Charlotte. However, this is the closest location of US Military Troops to Charlotte. We will continue to bring your the latest news as it develops. Also,...

It’s been another stellar couple of weeks for what used to be the world’s greatest navy, but now is nothing more than a continual Carnival Cruise with weapons, all courtesy of Barack Obama, Ash Carter, Ray Mabus and the pusillanimous doormen who call themselves the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Over a week ago, it was reported that a female sailor, serving aboard the aircraft carrier, USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, delivered a 7-pound baby girl. According to the Navy, the woman had no idea she was pregnant. Uh huh… If the concept of delivering babies aboard US ships of war isn’t...

Complete Headline: BREAKING NEWS: Pipe Bomb explodes on route of charity 5k run for military: Thousands of runners evacuated from Jersey Shore after explosion inside trash can — and there 'may be a second device' Authorities say pipe bomb exploded shortly before the Semper Five Run at Seaside Park, New Jersey The bomb was in a garbage can when it exploded, leaving no injuries The race, which is a 5K to benefit marines and sailors, was canceled because of the blast A pipe bomb exploded in a Jersey Shore town shortly before thousands of runners were due to take part...

Marine Corps headquarters has sent out a Communications Playbook that says top brass in Washington, not local public affairs officers, will control press statements about women in combat. The edict was issued in the aftermath of strong disagreements with civilian leaders on gender integration. The Corps normally gives wide latitude for spokespeople worldwide to discuss all sorts of Marine issues — but not in this case. Under “[public affairs] posture,” the playbook says: “Proper PA coordination both up to the Office of United States Marine Corps Communication (OUSMCC) and down to lower division and Recruiting District PAO’s will be due...

“Every now and then, in the middle of the constant barrage of crap that’s just pissing us all off these days, we come across a story, a feat, an event that just makes us stop in our tracks. This was one for me. “Cody Green was a 12-year kid in Indiana who was diagnosed with leukemia at 22 months old. He loved the Marines, and his parents said he drew strength and courage from the Marine Corps as ... he bravely fought the battle into remission three times. Although he was cancer-free at the time, the chemotherapy had lowered his...

It’s been a summer of good sports: the Tour de France, the Rio Olympics, baseball, and now within weeks, the beginning of the football season. Professional and amateur sports are obviously not coed. Why aren’t women competing with men in the track and field events at the Rio Olympics? Because men can run faster than women. Why aren’t women competing with men in the Tour de France? Because men are stronger and have more aerobic lung capacity. Why aren’t women intercepting a pass in the NFL? Because women don’t have the muscle mass and upper body strength to last five...

Don’t tell them theirs is the Forgotten War. “I sure as hell haven’t forgotten it,” said Jean White, a retired Marine lieutenant colonel from Oceanside who fought in the Korean War 66 years ago and was at its most-storied battle, Chosin Reservoir, where outnumbered and surrounded U.S. troops fought their way out of a snowy death trap. White’s feet froze. Now he has to wrap them in something warm at night to sleep, a constant reminder of “where we were and what we did.” What they did is so revered it’s taught in the Marines’ officer candidates school, right alongside...

The U.S. Marine Corps is looking for a few more good women. And this time the campaign is a bit different. Marine recruiters are turning to girls high school sports teams to find candidates who may be able to meet the Corps' rigorous physical standards, including for the front-line combat jobs now open to women. Marine Commandant Gen. Robert Neller says he wants to increase the number of women in the Corps to 1 in 10. "I've told them that 10 percent is where we want to go and they're working on it," Neller told The Associated Press in an...

Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam. After two American soldiers were murdered by an Islamic terrorist in Afghanistan while a crowd of protesters shouted “Death to Americans” and “Death to Infidels”, General Allen visited his men. “There will be moments like this when you’re searching for the meaning of this loss. There will be moments like this when your emotions are governed by anger and a desire to strike back,” Allen pleaded. “Now is not the time for revenge, now is not the time for vengeance.”...

....retired Gen. John Allen told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos that electing Trump could cause a “civil military crisis, the like of which we’ve not seen in this country.” ...That’s a pretty damning statement. Unfortunately, it’s even more damning — for the left — when you consider who Gen. Allen is.... Allen was, at one point, the White House coordinator for anti-Islamic State group efforts. Along with Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, Susan Rice, and the whole sick crew, he was responsible for the policy of treating the Islamic State as the “JV team” — a bunch of angry, stupid teens who...

It's all an act. Sports Illustrated model Hannah Ferguson revealed filming Carl's Jr. ads which are known for their steamy campaigns is not as sexy as the commercials make it out to be. "They had a spit bucket on the side, so every time I would take a bite out of the burger, this guy would have to run over with a bucket," she told Hamptons magazine. "I ate a few bites, but most of it I put in the spit bucket."

An 8-year-old boy with a rare genetic disorder passed away on Sunday, a day after becoming an honorary Marine. Wyatt Gillette, who was diagnosed with Aicardi-Goutieres Syndrome four years ago, was honored by Marines at Camp Pendelton in California on Saturday. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. Robert Neller agreed to make Gillette a Marine after a petition was posted online.

Retired Marine Gen. John Allen has endorsed Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee's campaign announced Monday. Allen, a four-star general who led coalition forces in Afghanistan, acknowledged the endorsement as a "very personal decision." "Through 37 years of service in the U.S. Marine Corps, I saw some of the toughest challenges that our nation faces around the world, and I know that America has the power to meet those challenges. However, it requires continued leadership and engagement in the world, continued partnership with our allies, and a clear understanding of our adversaries," Allen said in a statement released through the...

Welcome to 2016 when male soldiers train in pregnancy simulators, tactical lactation stations dot the battlefield, women are fraudulently passed through Ranger School and US Navy sailors willingly surrender their boats and equipment to Iranian thugs without so much as firing a flare. It’s the era of breast milk in the field and Liberace joins Delta Force… A perfect storm, a Category Five hurricane of doom and destruction is sweeping over the US military with the deadly accuracy of the Angel of Death on Passover. We have a President who is intent on destroying the military through insane social engineering....

You are witnessing history. You are watching the death of one of the greatest fighting forces in the long history of this planet. You are a spectator with a fifty yard line seat as the complete and utter destruction of the United States Marine Corps takes place. It has been seven months since Secretary of Defense Ash Carter, with the blessing of White House social engineers, decided to lift the ban on women serving in the combat arms (infantry, armor, armored cavalry, artillery) and special operations (Marine Recon, Marine Raiders, the Green Berets, the Rangers, Delta Force and the SEALs)....

In an effort to maintain the new status quo of cutting standards everywhere in the name of equality and "progress", the Marine Corps announced major changes over the Fourth of July holiday weekend regarding how much it will allow service members to weigh, and the biggest shift comes for women: going forward "larger" ladies will be allowed to defend the country while also standards used within the physical fitness test will also be relaxed. In a document released by USMC Fitness division, the new height and weight standard took effect on July 1, 2016 and is relaxing regulations to increase...

The U.S. Marine Corps issued new guidelines over the Fourth of July holiday weekend that will relax weight limits for servicewomen. Female Marines will now be allowed to weigh five to seven pounds more than previously accepted for each inch of their height, the Washington Post reported Tuesday. A 5-foot-9 woman, for example, who was previously allowed to weigh up to 169 pounds, can now weigh up to 176 pounds. The Commandant of the Marine Corps, Gen. Robert Neller, detailed the changes Friday as the military continues to fully integrate women into combat positions. He also outlined an overhaul to...

State Department officials on an emergency conference call during the Benghazi attack brought up concerns about whether Marines that might have been deployed should wear uniforms — something officials previously said could hurt diplomacy in the region, according to House Benghazi investigators. The final GOP-authored House Benghazi report released Tuesday included new details of a two-hour video teleconference call the night of the attack, a session led by White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough. Clinton and top Defense officials were also on the call, which was supposed to center on how to get Americans out of harm's way. But...

The Marine Corps is eliminating the job title “basic infantryman” along with 18 others and replacing them with terms that are gender neutral. Others titles, including “rifleman” and “mortarman,” will remain the same, due to their historical and cultural significance for Marines. The service plans to replace 19 of its military occupational specialty titles, the Marine Corps Times reported Tuesday, seven months after Navy Secretary Ray Mabus ordered the Marine Corps to conduct a review of all job titles to ensure gender neutrality. For most of the 19 terms that will be changed, the word “Marine” will replace the...

This happened after Gulf War I. Story reported back in May of this year but I could not find it posted here at FR.When Corporal Ryan Stickney and 200 of his fellow Marines prepared to return to their families after Operation Desert Storm in 1991, a logistics error forced them to turn to a surprising source for a ride home: Donald J. Trump. Today, Stickney would like to say "thank you." Stickney (left), was a squad leader in a TOW company of a Marine reserve unit based in Miami, FL and spent approximately six months in Saudi Arabia during the...

The Marine Corps admitted Thursday that it misidentified one of the six men in the World War II photograph of a flag-raising in Iwo Jima — one of the most iconic images in American history. For more than 70 years, history said John Bradley, a Navy hospital corpsman, was one of the six men seen in the legendary photo from one of the war’s bloodiest battles. But the Marines now say Bradley is nowhere in the photo — and the man believed to be Bradley is in fact Harold Schultz, a private first class.

Six out of seven female recruits failed to pass the Marines' rigorous physical fitness requirements - compared to only 40 out of 1,500 male recruits, according to new data. The figures, obtained by the Associated Press, show what progress has been made six months after the Pentagon opened all combat jobs open to women. Seven women are now serving in combat roles in the Marines or are waiting to serve, while 167 are performing non-combat duties in front-line units. But the fitness requirements are proving a tough nut to crack for female recruits. All recruits to the Marines are required...

More than 70 years after dying on a beach in World War II, Queens-bred Marine John F. Prince is finally coming home. His remains were excavated from a nondescript parking lot on Betio Island in the central Pacific, identified through dental records and due to arrive in New York next week for a burial with full military honors at Calverton National Cemetery, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency said Friday.

A San Antonio Marine Corps veteran spending Wednesday afternoon with his family on the Medina River made the heroic, fateful decision to sacrifice his own life while rescuing two teens caught in the undertow, according to authorities. Master Sgt. Rodney Buentello was visiting Bandera City Park when an unidentified teen girl tried crossing the dam, a violation of city ordinance, the Bandera Marshal's Office said in a statement. A male teenager followed her in an attempt to save her, but was also swept away, prompting Buentello to jump into action."(He) went into the water and managed to save both of...

The Marine Corps has dismissed the colonel responsible for all recruit training — and the sergeant major of the recruit training regiment — at Parris Island in the aftermath of the March death of a recruit. Col. Paul D. Cucinotta was relieved of command Monday, according to Corps spokesperson Capt. Joshua Pena. In an email to The Island Packet and The Beaufort Gazette, Pena wrote that Cucinotta was relieved by Maj. Gen. James W. Lukeman, commanding general, Training and Education Command, who cited “a loss of trust and confidence in (Cucinotta’s) ability to serve.” Pena said a “command investigation” that...

Operation You Go Girl is destined to fail; failure defined not as a NO GO, or an F, but as the nation’s young women flown home in flag draped Glad Bags when the nation loses the next war(s). When this happens, the Hollywood producers, the feminists and the cultural Marxists who were responsible for forcing the nation’s women to experience the horrors of ground combat will scratch their heads and wonder why reality is so much different from their imaginary ideas of women in combat. Think about this: US defense policy is now being run on a fantasy propagated by...

Let us never forget those who gave their life for our freedoms. Remembering the brave men and women who gave their “last full measure of devotion” for our freedoms, requires us to take a moment on this Memorial Day to focus on the individuals behind the numbers and remember they are not just names on a wall. One of those individuals who gave everything he had for us was Marine Captain John J. McKenna IV who was killed on August 16, 2006 during an operation in Fallujah, Iraq. The story of John McKenna’s life and death is the story of...

Japanese leaders reacted with outrage after a U.S. Marine veteran was arrested Thursday in connection with the death of a Japanese woman near a U.S. air base on the island of Okinawa. Kenneth Franklin Gadson, a 32-year-old civilian contractor at Kadena Air Base, admitted to strangling the woman, his defense attorney told Stars and Stripes — though the attorney questioned the condition under the which the admission was made. Rina Shimabukuro had been missing since last month. The 20-year-old’s body was discovered in a wooded location Thursday after Gadson told investigators where to look, according to the Associated Press.

Eight years ago, two US Marines from two different walks of life who had literally just met were told to stand guard in front of their outpost's entry-control point. Minutes later, they were staring down a big blue truck packed with explosives. With this particular shred of hell bearing down on them, they stood their ground. Heck, they even leaned in.

This was originally written for Deadspin's Blood Week, but shit happens and we're running it now. A 20-pound jug of homemade explosives will take off one or both legs somewhere between the knee and hip, perhaps breaking the pelvis and shattering vertebrae as the shockwave travels up through the skeleton. After our first Marine was wounded this way—let's call him Patient Zero—he was stabilized by his squad's hospital corpsman and flown to the trauma center, a British base that abuts Camp Leatherneck, the hub for Marine operations in southwest Afghanistan. At the time I was running a forward combat aid...